Bread; open crumb

   / Bread; open crumb #1  

Raul-02

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2021
Messages
1,284
Location
the armpit of the entire universe New Jersey
Tractor
kioti DK4710 SE HST CAB
I make all our bread have for years.
But I don't have a whole day to spend in the kitchen massaging and cuddling and smooching a dough ball to get a nice open crumb.
I am convinced that all those sweet fellas on the internet who do, must all live in apartments in cities, because they can. I got other things that need doing and most of them get me filthy.

Anyway, a while back I decided that they can't possibly be right. It should not take spending a whole day in the kitchen with multiple periods of resting the dough in between tedious repeated gentle folding and massaging the dough.

So I started an experiment
80% hydration with an overnight autolyze. in the morning I work in the sourdough and salt and some sugar. I keep my sourdough as a batter so I gotta augment with some flour to keep it 80% hydration. I use a commercial mixer both for the initial mix and in the morning to work in the leavening.
Then it sits for a few hours. I'll do a stretch session with the dough and pop it in the fridge where the 34F stops yeast activity. The next day I do a little stretch and folding to get it to skin up and then it goes on a sheet pan on parchment on top of a heating pad set to low. I ignore it for a couple more hours while the oven heats to 400F. In the oven I have a full rack size hunk of 3/8" thick Aluminum Jig plate (I made two for pizzas) it;'s heating too.
When I think it's risen as much as it's going to, I score it and pop it in the oven, and pour some water on the cast iron tray in the bottom where I have lava rocks for steam. In 20 minutes I cut the heat to 350F and in about 30 - 40 minutes it's done.
I'm getting a nice open crumb with none of those cursed pointless rest periods and handling periods. And I get a super-thin crust.
I'll post pics when I get the adaptors for my new phone it uses the new oval usb ports and I need the adapters.
 
   / Bread; open crumb #2  
you lost me at open crumb...
 
   / Bread; open crumb #4  
you lost me at open crumb...
OC.jpeg
 
   / Bread; open crumb #6  
Looks delicious!
 

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